While walking past the wood pile, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two drawers. Two drawers that were obviously old, yet useful and practical for what I had in mind.
These beauties in disguise were tossed atop dilapidated doors, scraps of wood, disintegrating decking, bait tainted pallets, broken chairs – wood rubbish – they were part of the enormous pyramid shaped mound of wood – known around here as the ‘wood pile’.
I knew, instantly, I had to have them. They had to come home with me. Just like this had to come home with me a few weeks ago too…oh, the things I drag home…
So, I stepped carefully onto a few bits of heaped rubble and then steadied myself while leaning in to reach them. I picked each one up, inspected more closely and decided, yes, they are worth taking…they were haggard (obviously), but I saw their potential; train track storage.
Finn loves trains. Train play is so much more fun now that Finn has a train table (Michael built it). Assembling wooden train tracks on floors which are anything but level (we live in a 200+ yr. old Maine farmhouse), is a struggle no child or parent should experience – children’s train tracks should not require shims…nor elicit tears…
So, now that the train table has been built (thanks Michael!), a whole new love of train play has ensued and more storage was needed…especially since we’ve recently scored all this track and plethora of bridges; also picked up for free during one of our weekly jaunts to our local transfer station…
We had quite a bit of track and accouterments already, though train play can always be expanded upon…
In come these old drawers…
They were the perfect width, depth and height to fit under the newly built train table. And the best part of all was that one of the drawers already had partitions! Organizing the track types, while making them easily accessible has never been easier!
Yeah for the dump! (:
A bit of wood putty, a light sanding, two coats of paint, a little help with the castors and some fun contact paper and Finn now has some super cool track storage, which fit perfectly under his custom train table…and best of all, they make organizing and accessibility easy and fun – especially for a three year old!
Recycling and re-inventing at its best!
Try this idea under a bed or anywhere low drawers would fit…storage solutions made affordable, easy and fun.
enjoy!
Ripe Red Berries 
Great idea. Super cute too! I have some extra drawers and this would be a perfect project for them. 🙂
Thank you! When you make them and if you want to share yours, please link back here! Good luck – the fun part is there is so much still you can do – different paints, multiple paints, drawer pulls…have fun!!
So clever and resourceful. You have the rare talent to spot potential in “discards”.
Thank you Norma! Who knew, right?
You are so clever. Love it! It’s great that your little guy has all the books and toys he needs and wants, and you haven’t gone broke in the process! (smile)
Thank you Linden. It’s so true, our little guy has more than he needs…as do we. It is truly amazing what recycling/repurposing can do for everyone, including the planet. How much fun is finding great stuff for free? Any income level can appreciate that and our finite resources thank us too! So while we may not be the richest in terms of monetary means, we are quite rich in every other sense of the word. Who doesn’t love a great bargain? For me, a repurposed bargain is just that much more sweet! If only everyone had such a resource…what a better planet we’d be. (:
I absolutely LOVE your ideas! We’re so alike it’s scary sometimes 😀
Thank you Dianne – I SO agree!! I feel like you are my ‘twin’, on the other side of the planet! (: Yeah for like mindedness!! Can’t wait to see what you come up with next. (:
Clever!
Thanks Mim! They were fun to make and they were an especially fun ‘find’! (: Especially as I think they were once a part of some centuries old home out here, most likely a pantry (I think). They probably hold many stories and now they will tell more…history at its best. Plus, no wood chipper for them – they live on! (:
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